Our review
Provides systematic diagnosis and resolution of CI/CD failures, including environment authentication, platform-specific issues, dependencies, and code bugs.
Strengths
- Structured step-by-step diagnostic flow
- Covers common failure categories
- Includes quick commands and fallback strategies
Limitations
- Assumes GitHub Actions environment
- Does not cover all CI systems
- Relies on CLI tools available in the environment
When CI builds fail, GitHub Actions errors occur, TLS/auth issues block pipelines, or platform-specific failures need debugging.
When the failure is outside the CI/CD pipeline (e.g., local development environment) or the CI system is not GitHub Actions.
Security analysis
SafeThe skill uses non-destructive diagnostic commands (curl, gh, grep, package managers) solely for troubleshooting CI/CD failures. It does not execute destructive actions, exfiltrate tokens, or disable safety mechanisms.
No concerns found
Examples
My GitHub Actions workflow is failing with an authentication error. Please diagnose the issue.I'm getting a TLS certificate error in my CI pipeline on Ubuntu runner. Help me fix it.My build passes on macOS but fails on Windows in CI. What could be the cause?name: ci-debugging description: Provides systematic CI/CD failure diagnosis and resolution. Use when CI builds fail, GitHub Actions errors occur, TLS/auth issues block pipelines, or platform-specific failures need debugging. allowed-tools: Bash, Read, Grep, Glob, WebFetch
CI/CD Debugging Skill
When to Use
- CI build failures
- GitHub Actions workflow errors
- TLS certificate or authentication issues
- Platform-specific compilation failures
- Dependency resolution problems
Diagnostic Flow
Step 1: Categorize Failure Type
Determine which category the failure falls into:
| Category | Indicators | Priority | |----------|------------|----------| | Environment/Auth | TLS errors, token expired, permission denied | Check first | | Platform-Specific | Works on Linux fails on Windows, vice versa | Check second | | Missing Dependencies | Module not found, package missing | Check third | | Actual Code Bug | Test assertions, logic errors | Check last |
Step 2: Environment/Auth Issues
Check for sandboxed environment limitations:
# Test GitHub API connectivity
curl -s --connect-timeout 5 https://api.github.com/zen
# Check GitHub CLI auth status
gh auth status
# Verify GITHUB_TOKEN
echo "Token present: ${GITHUB_TOKEN:+yes}"
Common Issues:
- TLS certificate errors -> Try diagnosis with connectivity check first
- Token expired -> Re-authenticate with
gh auth login - Sandbox blocked -> Use local git operations as fallback
Step 3: Platform-Specific Issues
Look for platform-specific patterns:
# Search for Unix-specific code
grep -rn "MSG_DONTWAIT\|/dev/null\|fork()" src/
# Check for Windows path issues
grep -rn '"/tmp\|"/var' src/
Fallback: Add conditional compilation or use cross-platform alternatives.
Step 4: Dependency Issues
# Check for missing packages (Node.js)
npm ls 2>&1 | grep "MISSING" || echo "No missing npm packages"
# For Python
pip check 2>&1 || echo "No pip issues"
# For CMake/C++
cmake --build build/ 2>&1 | grep -i "error\|not found" || echo "Build OK"
Step 5: Code Bug Analysis
If none of the above:
- Read the failing test output carefully
- Identify the assertion that failed
- Trace back to the implementation
- Fix the actual bug
Fallback Strategies
GitHub API Blocked
Priority order:
1. Use gh CLI (preferred)
2. Direct curl with GITHUB_TOKEN
3. Local git operations only
4. Manual intervention required
TLS/Certificate Issues
Priority order:
1. Check system certificates
2. Verify proxy settings
3. Use alternative connectivity check
4. Report as environment issue
Quick Commands
| Issue | Command |
|-------|---------|
| Check CI logs | gh run view --log-failed |
| Re-run failed | gh run rerun --failed |
| View workflow | gh run view |
| Check auth | gh auth status |
| List failed runs | gh run list --status failure |
Reference Documents (Import Syntax)
@./reference/common-failures.md
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